Soundscape Mix #14: Ancient Communication

How we see things is affected by how we say things. This mix is a reflection on formerly prominent methods and modes of communication, such as the typewriter, cassette tape, and radio. Enjoy your cultural evolution.

"Nostalgia - it's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, 'nostalgia' literally means 'the pain from an old wound.' It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a spaceship; it's a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel; it's called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels -- around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved."

-- Don Draper, Mad Men

The year 2010 saw two important events occur in the medium of music. First, Sony discontinued the cassette Walkman, which had put mobile music in over 100 million ears since 1979. Second, the Pioneer's Technics SL-1200 turntable, the primary tool of DJs since 1972, finally caved into the thousands of false starts that preceded it, and it officially went out of production. On a superficial level, these were both simply products deemed obsolete by manufacturers, but as Marshall McLuhan would be quick to point out, they were mediums through which humans communicated, and by their nature, they deeply affected the way information was transmitted and processed.

With this in mind, I wanted to put together a mix that celebrates modes and methods of communication whose relevancy has long since peaked, yet still they linger. The typewriter, cassette, and the radio remain nestled in our collective consciousness (and often in our pawn shops and flea markets). Lord only knows how many generations will pass before these mediums are completely forgotten, or if they ever will be. Why do I know what both an 8-track and LaserDisc are?